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Colonel Anton Dyakov soldiers' monument in Topchii, Bulgaria

The memorial was open and sanctified on November 25, 1928 in the presence of many guests, the wife and sons of Colonel Dyakov. Later on, near the monument was positioned a hovitzer, donated by the Ministry of Defense in 1930. The presence of the 19th Infantry Regiment in the village of Topchi in 1916 is also connected with the large fountain built by the soldiers, which for many years has been the central water source of the village. On a prominent spot on the fountain, a marble plate is written: "Do not forget Dobrudzha. 1916 ".

Bulgaria, Topchii

Type of WWI-heritage

War monument

Dimensions

State of repair/preservation

Good

Historical WWI Context

The 19th Infantry Shumen Regiment was formed in March 1889 in the town of Shumen from the 2nd and 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Preslavski Regiment, These battalions were descendants of the 22nd Razgrad and 11th Orhanic battalions and have flags donated by Prince Alexander I on August the 30th 1881. During the First World War in 1916 the regiment fought on the Dobrudzha front. In the assault on the two defensive lines of Tutrakan 19th Infantry Shumen Regiment gave 369 killed and 1 496 wounded. Ten days after the Battle of Tutrakan one of the heroes of this epopee , the commander of the 19th Infantry Shumen Regiment, Colonel Anton Dyakov, died. He was seriously injured in a bloody attack on the approaches to Dobrich, after three days he died in the military infirmary. Colonel Dyakov was born in Karnobat in 1864. As a junker at the Military School in Sofia he was a volunteer in the Serbian-Bulgarian War of 1885. He quickly climbs the ladder of the military hierarchy. He went through the fire of three wars and started the fourth, but did not finish it. He is author of documentary reading about the Balkan War, printed in 1915 in Razgrad in the printing house of Iv.Tsanev. The village of Azaplar, where the Dyakov regiment was wounded, is named Colonel Dyakovo. The rest of his live soldiers together with the local people, as a sign of respect and appreciation to this great Bulgarian patriot, perpetuate his work with a dignified monument in the center of Topchii, opened on the 25th of November 1928. According to official data, 18 heroes from Topchii died in Tutrakan epopee, 13 from them were part of the 19th Infantry Shoumen Regiment with Commander Colonel Dyakov. The soldier's monument in the Topcii vilage was one of the first to be built in the area - it was built with funds collected not only by the inhabitants of the village but also by the former servicemen of the 19th Infantry Shumen Regiment, who on the eve of the First World War was stationed in the village. The monument represents the sculpture of Anton Dyakov, a regimental commander who died in September 1916. There are also 84 heroes’names written on –all of them belongs to people who died in the wars for Bulgaria.